On Facebook or somewhere else in my internet travels, I was made aware of a Nuclear Armageddon film I’d not heard of previously.
Despite the impracticality and undesirability of it all, I remain fascinated with tales of post apocalyptic survival (believing, of course, that I will be one of the few to survive intact with the resources and abilities needed to continue to survive and thrive. My personal “best” fantasy along these lines is to travel the country and ultimately the world, gathering up the world’s greatest collection of Science Fiction literature and ephemera – all of them orignals, 1st editions, mint condition examples. But I digress.)
Anyway, the opportunity to see a take on the consequences and aftermaths I’d not seen before was an exciting one, so I went in search of the BBC’s production of Peter Watkin’s The War Game documentary.
Nowhere was it available for viewing. Not illegally on Youtube, not illegally on the Archive, not illegally on any of a handful of sites that often make content available until rights holders make them go away. (I wanted to see if it was worth pursuing, not illegally watch it.)
So I ordered a copy of the Blue Ray packaged with another Watkin’s production – Culloden (coverage of that battle).
It duly arrived and – apparently I got the wrongly encoded blu ray version.
Imagine my surprise when I double checked online and found both films freely available on Vimeo.
No telling how long it will remain there, but, having paid for a copy, I felt entitled to watch it, and I did.
No wonder this was not broadcast for quite some time after it was produced. I’ll not spoil anything other than to say that it is both unrelentingly realistic and horrific. No doubt, had it aired in the mid-60s, it would have really fueled the anit-nuke protest movement – might even have pushed that movement over the top to the point of demanding that the UK abandon nuclear weapons entirely (and wouldn’t that have brought about some changes?).
I’m glad I watched it. I’m also glad that re-watching it will be difficult to do (presuming it gets taken down from Vimeo).
